GM can't tell U.S. Treasury when to sell its stock, says top exec

Reuss says the government’s part-ownership of GM matters to American taxpayers and customers.

media.gm.com

President Obama will visit a Chrysler plant in Ohio today, a day after the U.S. Treasury reached a deal to sell its remaining 6.6% stake in Chrysler to Fiat.

Meanwhile, the Treasury still owns 26% of General Motors. But GM North American President Mark Reuss says it’s up to the U.S. Treasury to decide when to get out of the car business completely.

Reuss says the government’s part-ownership of GM matters to American taxpayers and customers. It also matters to GM executives and workers.

But it's not up to GM when the Treasury sells its stock.

"I can’t control when anybody buys and sells GM stock," says Reuss. "(What) we can control is the performance of the company and that’s where we’re focused.

Reuss says sales are steadily improving as customers react positively to GM’s new products, especially its small, fuel-efficient cars. He says customer consideration of GM vehicles has also gone up for the past 13 months.

GM introduced the Chevy Cruze late last year, and it will soon launch a subcompact, the Sonic, and a small Buick, the Verano. The launch of new Malibu will come late this year.

GM will also dramatically boost its capacity to build Volts, the company's electric hybrid car. GM will build about 12,000 Volts this year, and up to 60,000 next year.